Disclaimer: The Final Fantasy VII compilation does not belong to me. I do not own the characters, story, places etc. They are all the property, copyright and trademark of Square-Enix. I place no ownership/claim on them by using them in this work of fan fiction.

Chapter Four: Off Guard

"So, how is this going to work?"

Yuffie was still standing in front of the sofa, trying her best to look commanding. She was dressed in a dark, loose fitting tracksuit. He smirked; it seemed she was purposefully making an effort to cover up after the previous evening's incident.

Shame.

Reno looked like he was considering her question, before giving a small shrug, "Well…why don't you show me that precious itinerary of yours?"

She seemed to hesitate before silently walking back to her room, returning a few moments later with the black file, before quickly thrusting it into his hands. The red head raised his brow at her, before giving a small sigh of exasperation. She was far too irritable. He started flicking through the file, giving the contents a causal going over. A few minutes passed by in silence before he spoke again.

"You know…you can sit down. You look a little silly hovering around like that." He gave her a short glance, before quickly returning his attention to the file.

The young woman looked back and forth between the sofa where Reno was sat and the other two chairs that resided in the living room. Eventually she shuffled over to the chair that was furthest away, sitting down with a soft thud and crossing her arms over her chest. The red head sighed again, this time amusement mixed in with the exasperation.

"How about you sit here." He patted the seat next to him on the sofa.

"No thanks."

"Come on, I won't bite, unless you ask." He wiggled his eyebrows at her in jest, earning only a scowl in return. Reno sighed, "Doing things that make you uncomfortable is part of what we're meant to be doing here, no?"

Her body seemed to tense as she clenched her hands into her arms. She was glaring at him with such intensity that he could only assume she was trying to test him. Making sure to not betray any delight at her reaction, he tried to keep his face as placid as possible. Without relaxing her body, the brunette got up and rather stiffly walked over to the sofa, sitting down so tentatively you'd have thought the seat was some kind of wild animal she was trying not to wake.

Reno couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

"You need to chill a bit little Miss."

She shot him a glare, before making a point to lean back slightly into the sofa, though she kept her arms tightly crossed.

As though sensing he wasn't going to get anywhere fast, he decided to not push the subject for now, instead returning his attention back to the file in his hands.

"Listen, this assignment tomorrow, it's a press conference at a kiddies charity. They'll probably ask you lots of boring questions, so why don't I put on my best journalist impression and we do an old fashioned Q&A?"

Yuffie huffed, "That sounds dumb."

The red head smirked. She was acting like a petulant child. How was she supposed to become the leader of a nation in a few weeks? Or maybe this attitude was reserved especially for him. Somehow that didn't make him feel particularly special.

"Well you'll look dumb girly, if you pull another stunt like today."

Rolling her eyes, the brunette huffed out her reply, "Fine."

Reno made a point to clear his throat as if getting into character, "So Miss. Kisaragi, how are you finding your visit so far?"

It was very difficult for Yuffie to withhold a second eye roll as her awkwardness threatened to overwhelm her. Taking a breath, she put on what she thought was a mostly pleasant tone.

"It's been very nice to see all the new developments taking shape and of course President Shinra has been most welcome." She finished her answer with a small smile and head tilt. Anyone who knew her would have been able to tell it was fake, but Reno imagined that it would probably come across quite well to the general public.

She's not a bad little actress when she wants to be…

He raised one of his eyebrows in jest, "I bet he has."

Yuffie shot him a look of derision. "They are not going to say that."

Smirking at her irritation, the Turk continued on, "And how are preparations going for your upcoming inauguration?"

The questions had continued for quite a while, covering a range of the boring and mundane, to a few more challenging ones about Shinra specific activities. As he seemed to draw a blank of what question to ask next, he lent in towards her to point at something in the file and the young woman flinched so violently even he seemed surprised.

Reno sighed, something that he seemed to be doing a lot of tonight. "Yuffie, that kinda shit is exactly what you need to work on."

"Sorry." The young woman looked a little embarrassed at herself. She knew she had over reacted, but it had almost been instinctual.

"I don't remember you being this jumpy before? This annoying, sure. This loud, sure. This-" He was abruptly cut off as a cushion hit him in the face.

"Oh shut up Turkey! If anyone is annoying it's you and I'm not loud!" She grabbed another cushion and readied it to throw.

"Woah woah, that's enough, pillow fights should only be between girls and preferably when they're naked." Reno's teeth flashed as he smirked at her.

Yuffie's brow furrowed. However rude he was, he had a point. Not about the pillow fight thing of course, but about her. Had she always been this uptight? No. When she was younger she played it off with her aloofness and her ego, but for some reason recently she had found herself becoming increasingly self-conscious.

She hadn't purposefully tried to avoid relationships of the romantic variety. When she had been surrounded by men deemed worthy of her, she'd either been too young to take interest, they'd been too close to her father, or they'd simply been too scared of her and her status to make a move. She was aware she'd had something of a crush on Vincent after they had worked together a few years back, but the times when she'd been openly affectionate towards him, he had shown no interest in her. She had felt too immature for him, that perhaps she wasn't desirable in the way other women seemed to be. That rejection had been enough for her to withdraw a little from such things and since she seemed to have developed an inherent fear of that kind of vulnerability. In her mind being intimate, physically or emotionally, was the epitome of that. She'd put up a wall, but for some reason both The President and Reno were managing to get through her defences and it wasn't something she'd been prepared for. They made her feel nervous in more ways than one and much to her disgust, she was sure she was feeling some sort of excitement when she was near them.

But why? I hate these men, so why?

Reno watched the young brunette as she sat deep in thought. He gave her a small smile. "Why don't we continue this tomorrow night? It's getting late and you need your beauty sleep."

Yuffie huffed, breaking out of her thoughts with annoyance, "Geez, thanks."

She got up and made a point to grab a glass of water before heading to bed this time. Yuffie lingered at the doorway of her bedroom, before turning back to the red head.

"Why didn't you come with us today?"

Reno shrugged, "I had some work to do and there was a separate security detail at the Checkpoint anyway, so I wasn't needed."

The brunette let a moment of silence pass before speaking a little too hesitantly, "Are you… coming with us tomorrow?"

The young man cocked his eyebrow, "Yeah, I'll be around. It looks good for a Turk to be around when it's such a heavily press focused event, especially one as good as me."

"Okay."

He watched her, as she turned and quickly shut the bedroom door behind her, leaving him alone once again on the sofa. That was certainly strange. She hadn't even bothered to roll her eyes at his boasting. If he didn't know better he would have come to the conclusion that she actually wanted him around tomorrow.

Reno's brow furrowed as he stared at the closed door to her bedroom. He found this girl very confusing at times. She was both indignant and proud, yet seemed overly shy about herself at the same time. She had such a shield up and part of him could understand why; after all she was here trying to make some sort of peace with people she clearly had no trust in, but still her defensiveness seemed out of place. He had always thought of her as brash and childish, but she had never been one to be self-conscious. Maybe the pressure of her upcoming responsibilities was making her doubt herself. The attention she was getting now was thrusting her into a world of social politics and this time she was on her own. Lacing his hands behind his head, Reno lent back and sighed. Perhaps he shouldn't tease her so much. It was just too bad that it was so much fun to do.

Yuffie chose to sleep in the next morning. Her assignment wasn't until the afternoon and she was enjoying being able to relax at bit. When she did finally manage to drag herself out of bed, into the shower and then into an outfit appropriate for her assignment later, she finally left her room to scavenge for food. Her gaze scanned the area, but she couldn't locate Reno anywhere. That was odd, wasn't he meant to be around 24/7?

Where is he?

Slowly, she made her way across to the kitchenette, continuing to survey the room as she went, half expecting to find Reno hiding behind a corner or a chair. Realising she really was alone in the flat, Yuffie suddenly felt an uncomfortable sensation crawl around inside her belly. Trying to distract herself, she busied herself with breakfast, but could only manage a few cereal bars before deciding to make herself a cup of tea. The kettle had just boiled when she heard the door go. She swung her head around and felt a pang of relief, followed by far too much anger, that even she knew was misplaced.

"Where were you Turk?"

He frowned, taken aback by her tone, "I was taking a call."

She huffed and turned back to her tea, "Anything important?"

Sensing her annoyance, Reno tried to lighten the mood. Shrugging, he let a hint of a tease enter his voice, "Ah ya know, just one of my many admirers. Thought I'd spare your little innocent ears, sometimes these things get a little intense."

She gave him a dirty look, making a point to look him up and down, "I don't see how anyone could admire you."

He clutched at his chest in mock pain, before chuckling and walking past her to sit down on his usual spot on the sofa.

Reno watched her as she stirred her tea absentmindedly. She seemed to be a little flustered, though why, he couldn't imagine. Maybe she was nervous about today. He looked her up and down, noticing she was wearing fairly smart clothes for once. The itinerary had stated that, because of the photo-shoot, smart clothes should be worn after all, but maybe she wasn't comfortable with such formality. She was wearing a suit, but it wasn't like the one he and his fellow Turks wore. Yuffie's seemed to be made from a lighter material, the texture looking close to linen, with the colour being a deep green. She seemed to like that colour, and he couldn't say it didn't suit her. His eyes lingered on her behind for a second too long.

Those trousers are too tight…

Yuffie watched him out of the corner of her eye as she sipped her tea. She began thinking back to the previous evening. Oh course she had said he was undesirable, but if she looked past his annoying personality and questionable occupation, she could see how so many women seemed to be drawn to him. He wasn't exactly classically handsome, but he was certainly attractive, so couldn't deny it. Then there was that bad boy sort of charm he had, with the God damn smirk. It seemed to have the ability to make her blood boil and her tummy tingle simultaneously. It was a strangely addictive sensation.

She quickly turned her face away and back to the tea in her hands. She should stop any thoughts like that immediately. Reno seemed to have the ability to read her mind, as if every word was written on her face as clear as day and she could do without him thinking she had any interest in him. He would never let her live it down. She needed to concentrate on this afternoon. The young woman made to walk over to the red head, choosing by her own will, to sit next to him again.

"Let's go through the questions again."

They had been going for what seemed like forever. The journalists questions jumped around between her, the President and the Charity head and so far things had been going okay. She'd managed to answer all the questions that were laid to her adequately enough it would seem, but that just made her more nervous. She just wanted it to end already; the longer it went on, the more sure she was that she would mess it up.

She snapped out of her self-deprecation just in time to realise one of the prettier female members of the press was speaking to her once more.

"Miss Kisaragi, I know that our readers would be very interested to know if you have someone waiting for you back in Wutai? Or have you got a sweetheart here in Edge perhaps?"

Yuffie smiled modestly, "I'm not currently seeing anyone, no. My work keeps me far too busy." She had been expecting the question to come up at some point, but it was still strange to her. Were people really interested in such things?

The journalist clearly felt differently to her and wasn't keen to drop the subject, as she continued to press on before anyone else could get a chance, "But surely, one day you'll need to find the time?"

The young brunette just continued to smile, not really knowing what to say. Unfortunately for her, the woman hadn't finished, as her eyes flashed with excitement, letting her gaze flicker between Yuffie and the President, "What about our handsome President? He's surely a perfect candidate!"

"Oh gawd no!" Yuffie had spoke before she realised what she was doing. She cringed at herself, before quickly scanning the room for a different question to take. Luckily for her, her comment had seemed to have been brushed off by most of the other members of the press as she was directed to another eager journalist, this time an older man who spoke with a more serious tone.

"Miss Kisaragi, given Wutai's complicated history with the Shinra Company, why have you chosen now to start working along side them?"

Yuffie was a little taken a back for a moment. It was certainly something that was likely to come up, but for some reason they hadn't covered it the night before and now her mind was blank. She knew she had to be careful with her answer. Taking a steadying breath, she made to speak with a conviction only she could possess.

"It is true that I have always seen The Shinra Company as something of an enemy, but so much has changed since those times. The world has gone through so much chaos over the past few years that rather than seeking enemies, we have decided to work together to help the world. Petty squabbles seem rather silly in the light of the suffering the citizens have endured. If an alliance between us can help them, then putting our differences aside is an easy decision to make."

There was a small pause, before a round of applause broke out. Taken a back, Yuffie's eyes widened. Had she really said something to merit this? Looking to her left, her eyes met with Reno's, who had been standing against the wall and out of the limelight. He was smirking again, though this one was one of his warmer variations. She returned the smile, in spite of herself. A moment later she took a chance to glance at the President whom sat beside her, and much to her surprise was smiling back at her too, with a genuineness that she didn't think him capable.

After the press had finished their questions, she was ushered along to another room for the photo-shoot. They were posed along with the Charity Head, a few of the main volunteers and various members of the public who had benefited from their work. As they got told to get into position, Rufus put his hand on the small of her back, his fingers just closing around the edge of her waist as he made to move her closer.

Yuffie couldn't help but tense up but she couldn't react the same way as yesterday. Instead she tried to concentrate on putting on her best 'lady like' smile for the camera. After all it really wasn't a big deal, he was merely touching her back, something most people wouldn't give a second thought to and neither should she.

As the camera clicked on incessantly, Reno, who was still standing off to the side, watched the participants closely.

After they'd taken far too many photos with her in them, they moved on to some with just the President. Yuffie was glad of the breather and stepped off to the side, with the red head soon coming to her side.

He lent against the wall, before dipping his head towards her, lips almost against her ear as he whispered, "You did good."

She felt an unfamiliar warm spread across her cheeks. It was unlike the normal feeling of embarrassment she so often felt. Instead of fear, her heart almost felt like it was fluttering. Perhaps it was from the praise, after all that always made her feel good, even if it was from the red head.

Yuffie couldn't help herself as she turned her face towards his, a beaming smile spreading across her face as she whispered back, "Thanks Turkey."

"You know, some people would take personal offense to being rejected so publicly."

The President and her had just started their walk when he spoke. The charity office had a small garden that had been planted in the inner courtyard. It was amazing that they had managed to grow anything at all; after Meteor Fall and the Geostigma crisis, growing much of anything had become challenging, especially in a place like Edge which was so close to the epicenter of it all. It seemed to be mostly made up of different grasses, with some wildflowers thrown in and a simple pave-slab pathway running through the centre. The President had pulled her aside after the photo-shoot had wrapped up, with Reno being told to keep watch at the entrance. For a moment she made the assumption that she must have done something wrong and he was going to tell her off again, so when he spoke, she couldn't help but react defensively.

"Oh - er sorry, I just-"

He laid a hand on her shoulder, gently squeezing as he lent towards her, a small smile on his face, "I am jesting with you, Miss. Kisaragi."

She blinked, before rubbing the back of her neck, feeling a little silly, "Oh… good." There was a pause as they continued at a slow pace, the silence creating too much tension for her to bare. Trying to break it with her own form of mirth, she put on her best playful smirk, "I'm a bit young for you anyway, don't you think?"

He raised an eyebrow at her, "Hardly."

His tone seemed to hint at annoyance, though she assumed it was because she'd called him old. Not wanting to continue down this road and risk insulting him further, she decided to change tack, "Fine, I'm not glamorous enough. I've heard you business types all go for the more womanly type." She made a gesture with her hands to signify exaggerated curves, expecting to earn at least a smirk from the President, but the look he gave her showed he was apparently taking her point quite seriously.

"I can't say I have a type, Miss Kisaragi. Though that being said," He made a point to look her in the eyes, "I don't think you fall short of qualifying."

Yuffie was staring at him like he'd just told her he did drag in his spare time. She blinked a few too many times before turning her gaze away towards the pathway they were strolling along. Silence descended around them again. She thought about trying to make another joke, but her mind was drawing a blank. Luckily, the President chose to speak again.

"You seem more at ease that yesterday, Miss Kisaragi. I must say, whatever you've been doing is clearly working."

Thankful to have something to talk about, she let a sigh of relief, smiling awkwardly, "Oh yes, Reno's been helping me."

He cocked his eyebrow again. "Reno?" Yuffie merely nodded in reply, keeping her gaze ahead. He proceeded to press the issue, his tone calm, though if one knew him better, they would have picked up it's edge of accusation, "How exactly has he been helping?"

"Oh, well I suppose you could say we've been roleplaying." She felt an uneasiness radiating from her walking companion and turned to look at him, reacting quickly to the questioning look on his face, which bordered on being alarmed, "Oh don't worry, not like that!"

"I would hope not." His gaze returned to the path, though his shoulders still held tension in them, "You're going to be a leader of a nation, I'd advise you to be careful around men like Reno. He's not on the same bar as you."

She practically scoffed, "What, and you are?"

"I am, yes." His tone was so straightforward to almost knocked her off guard and the tension that the President had about him wasn't helping the atmosphere around them. Yuffie wanted desperately to get them off this argument that had appeared out of nowhere. She felt like someone had done something wrong, but she wasn't sure who or what that was.

"Anyway…" She tried to keep her tone as light as possible, "he's just been helping me prep for stuff, like talking in public and restraining my urge to snap at annoying people."

Rufus merely gave her a nod in response.

Gawd, why is he making this so difficult?

She tried again, hoping that a bit of self-deprecation would do the trick of lightening the mood, "I'm hope he knows how to dance, because that is something I'm going to need a little help with. That charity ball is going to be a nightmare otherwise. I can't say I have any natural tal-"

"I will take care of that."

The abruptness of his interruption left her a bit confused at to what he'd actually said, "I'm sorry, what?"

"It would be pointless to learn from Reno." He wasn't bothering to look at her as he spoke, "He has little to no experience in such things." He turned to face her, making a note to make sure his tone was crystal clear, "I insist."

"Erm, Ok then. Sure." Yuffie seemed almost disoriented. She really wasn't sure what was going on, all she knew was that she'd have probably agreed to anything in that moment just to get away from the weird tension that had formed between them.

The young man continued on, "In fact, as you don't have anywhere to be this evening. You will join me for dinner. We can start your first lesson after wards."

She opened her mouth to respond, when the two of them came to the end of their circuit of the garden and the President swiftly went towards the entrance, effectively cutting off any rebuttal she might have had. As he passed through the doorway, he called back towards her, but didn't make to stop, "Why don't you go home first and change. I'm sure you'd be more comfortable dancing in something other than a suit."

Reno had been oddly quiet on the way back to the apartments. She kept chancing glances in the rear-view mirror, but not once did she catch him looking back at her. In fact he had seemed just as grouchy as the President had in the garden. What was with these men? It was starting to annoy her, but she wasn't in the mood for a confrontation. Instead she made a point of ignoring him too, completely avoiding all contact, even when they got back and going straight to her bedroom without so much as a word.

She emerged about an hour later, having showered, changed and trying to prepare herself mentally for the completely ridiculous scenario she was heading for. She had expected that at some point she'd have to spend some form of social time outside of assignments with the head of Shinra, but still, this was a bit much.

Dancing lessons… of all the things to agree to Yuffie.

In all honesty, if she'd known of a polite way to decline, she would have. Unfortunately for Yuffie, her normal response of 'Gawd no' wasn't an option and she couldn't just not turn up either. She had to make nice and perhaps, however awkward the situation was, this would offer her an opportunity for her to manipulate things to her benefit.

Reno, who was sitting back on the sofa, seemed confused by her appearance.

"You're a little dressed up don't you think?"

She looked down at herself. The dress she'd chosen wasn't particularly fancy, in fact she'd thought it was quite casual. The hem reached just to her knees and the sleeves reached her wrists. She shrugged at him.

"Well he's invited me for dinner and-"

"You're going to his house?" His tone held no emotion, but his abruptness betrayed his disapproval.

Yuffie raised an eyebrow, her hands landing on her hips, "Yeah, is that a problem?"

He viewed her for a moment before turning away "No." She started towards a pile of stuff she'd dumped by the window, when he spoke again, "Still, don't see why you have to dress up."

She huffed and started to rifle through the pile, looking for a little bag of hair bands, "He's going to teach me how to dance, which is going to be so weird… but we have that stupid charity ball we have to go to next week so it can't be helped. I thought a dress would be good for dancing, anyway I don't see how it matters-"

Her back was to him, so she had no chance to notice him move until he snaked his hand around her waist. With a swift pull, he turned her in his arm, but continued to hold on to her, his other hand grabbing onto her own and pulling her into him until he was close enough to feel his body warmth mingle with her own.

"What are you doing!?" She struggled in his grasp as her face turned a brilliant shade of red, but his grip head fast.

"He's going to be teaching you how to dance, right? I thought you might need a practice run." His tone was teasing, but his eyes were oddly intense.

For a few seconds they just looked at each other in silence before Yuffie shook her head, "Just get off me." This time he let her go as she gave his chest a firm push. As she straightened up, she brushed herself down, as if he'd made her dirty by touching her. She proceeded to fold her arms tightly across her chest and glared daggers towards the red head, "I'm sure I'll be able to manage just fine."

Reno put his hands up in surrender, "Whatever you say, little Miss." He finally showed a small smirk before backing away, though as the young woman turned back to continue her search, his eyes went cold. He wasn't sure why he was feeling it, but it was definitely there.

Jealously.

The young woman made a little sound of triumph as she found what she was looking for, before making to tie her hair back in high pony tail, turning back to face him.

"Shall we go then?"

A/N: Hope you're all enjoying reading! Sorry about the lull in updates, my laptop's hard-drive died, so I was without it whilst it was getting replaced. Also I appreciate all reviews and they help give me the kick up the bum to get on with writing. I NEVER leave a fic unfinished, so I will keep updating this, even if it takes me a while sometimes.